Drive '10 Conference - Day One Reflections

After hanging out in the expansive confines of Northpoint Community Church in suburban Atlanta, I came to the realization that it really would be nice to have a children's ministry area in my church that looks like a city street complete with mock storefronts for each class room, a theater and a cafe. Did I mention that was the JUST THE CHILDREN'S MINISTRY AREA? I did. Okay.

I am attending the Drive Conference at Northpoint. This is the annual "download"session that the Northpoint leadership staff hosts for church leaders. The tagline for Drive is "because we're not there yet." In other words, you keep driving... because you're not quite at your destination... there yet. Anyway. It's a "download" session because the Northpoint leadership basically downloads to all the rest of us the stuff that they have been learning about doing and being church. Northpoint has over 20,000 people in worship each Sunday at their three campuses--all of which are completely different. Buckhead Church is located in a trendy-ish urban neighborhood of Atlanta. Brownsbridge Church is located in a more rural area outside of Atlanta.

Despite my proclivity toward cynicism I found myself enjoying the first day of conference a whole lot more than I thought I would. My "pre-conference" workshop was a showcase of Intersect, Northpoint's mission "division." I was pleasantly surprised that Northpoint doesn't try to reinvent the wheel--they partner with Atlanta area charities (many of which are not overtly "Christian" missions) who are already in the field with existing systems. Then they throw their substantial resources to deal with at-risk children and homeless/hunger issues. In all things you will discover that Northpoint values focus, clarity in communication and grand vision. I'm learning from this, believe it or not. I could use more clarity and more grand visions.

The General Session started off with an over-the-top musical explosion from one of Northpoint's bands. A female singer dropped in from the ceiling singing the Rhianna intro to Jay-Z's "Run This Town." Here's a pic of just that....

I dug this. I am easy to please.

After a worship set with songs that I didn't know, Andy Stanley took the stage and delivered an inspiring message about dreaming the impossible. The one quote that I really took away from this was "Reality takes what is possible and shrinks it down to something manageable." I get that. Stanley is an awesome preacher and a great speaker. I wasn't sure this was the best thing I have heard him deliver, but still.... It was all good.

Popular posts from this blog

It's also one of those Sundays when you can't ignore the church calendar and just preach whatever you want. I am sure that some people do just that, but they probably aren't Presbyterian, and I am sure that the liturgical rhythm of the Church is not first and foremost in their mind.

And they probably have had no trouble at all working on their sermon this week.

I'm not one to blindly follow tradition, but there are some things that you just don't do---and you can't just ignore the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

But this leads to a bit of a quandary... In the short time I have been doing this whole preaching thing I have gone through the Palm Sunday story a few times. After a while you sort of wonder if your congregation has heard your Palm Sunday riff a few too many times.

That sermon needs to get preached, though. While we celebrate the cheers and palm waving …

I was reading an online news story today about a disgraced and dismissed seminary president from one of the largest Christian denominations in America.

A lifetime of boorish and chauvinistic behavior toward women finally caught up with him, and he'd finally done something that even the male-dominated establishment of his tribe couldn't ignore and he was asked to "retire."

And then I made the mistake of reading the reader's comments below the article.

Along with the scores straight up messages of support for this leader, there were also more than a few accusations that the whole thing was a web of conspiracies against him because of his commitment to the "truth."

I had to wonder how people who aren't Christians read those kinds of responses, and the wondering made me feel kind of weary.

I'm tired of apologizing for a church I don't belong to.

I bet there are a lot of Jesus-followers out there who are feeling the same way.

This week I am launching a new sermon series, "Family Values: Rediscovering What's Really Important." The idea is pretty simple...

Our culture has become marked by anxiety. There is no way to escape the deluge of bad news that just seems to permeate the air around us. Some blame it on the recent 24-hour news cycle that was once a phenomenon, and is now just the status quo. Others blame it on the immediacy of information from cable TV, the internet, smart phones and social media.

There is the passage of Scripture from Psalm 85 where the psalmist extols the virtues of those who are walking in pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem with the blessings of God all around them. "They move from strength to strength," he writes. Strength to strength... that sounds beautiful doesn't it?

Unfortunately, I think that most of the people in our culture move from fear to fear. We move from being anxious about terrorism to being anxious about war. We were fearful…

Leon Bloder is a preacher, a poet, a would-be writer, a husband, a
father, a son, a dreamer, a sinner, a former fundamentalist, a pastor, a
fellow-traveller and a failed artist. He is talentless, but
well-connected. He stumbles after Jesus, but hopes beyond hope that he
is stumbling in the right direction